1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thrust washer interposed between relatively rotating members in an automatic transmission, specifically a mounting apparatus of the thrust washer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in the automatic transmission, a lot of members must be housed in a limited space due to the limited mounting space. However, it is difficult to axially position rotating members so as not to contact each other. Therefore, the rotating members are positioned in each unit by axially tightly placing the rotating members in series with thrust washers or thrust bearings therebetween.
Conventionally, the thrust washer has a protrusion axially projected on the outer peripheral section, while the rotating member has a through hole, so that the protrusion is inserted into the through hole for mounting.
The thrust washer is secured only with friction forces between the protrusion and the through hole. Accordingly, upon assembling the automatic transmission, the thrust washer is often dropped, or the protrusion and the through hole are often placed in misalignment. Further, when mounting the thrust washer, enough care must be taken with respect to dropping and misalignment using grease, which is difficult to do. In particular, when using a washer and the like, if waves are formed in the washer, the protrusion is often prevented from fitting enough into the through hole. In addition, in the automatic transmission assembled, a clearance is often produced between the thrust washer and the rotating member rotating relatively to the thrust washer, which also causes the dropping and the misalignment of the thrust washer.